On Thursday 18 January in Strasbourg, the European Parliament adopted by a large majority (345 votes in favour, 104 against - mainly from the ECR and ID groups - and 29 abstentions) a resolution denouncing the Commission’s behaviour towards Hungary, which was able to benefit from the release of €10 billion in December despite ongoing breaches of the Rule of law, as many MEPs pointed out on 17 January during a debate with the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (see EUROPE 13330/3).
The text adopted calls on the Committee on Legal Affairs to prepare a European Parliament action against the Commission before the Court of Justice of the EU to annul the release of the money. If the Court of Justice rules in favour of the European Parliament, the Commission could be obliged to recover this money.
On Thursday, the MEPs also confirmed their intention to call on the Council of the EU to activate Article 7.2 of the EU Treaty on the Rule of law, which makes it possible to establish the existence of serious violations in Hungary and, possibly, to pave the way for the suspension of Hungary’s voting rights in the Council of the EU.
However, the MEPs did not support the Renew Europe group’s amendment calling for a vote of confidence against the Commission. The Left’s amendment to toughen the tone of the resolution by calling for the suspension of the upcoming Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council was also not adopted (see EUROPE 13315/1).
In its resolution, Parliament condemns “the deliberate, continuous and systematic efforts of the Hungarian Government to undermine the founding values of the EU [...] in particular the recent adoption of the ‘national sovereignty protection’ package”, which the Parliament compares to the Russian law on foreign agents.
The European Parliament also regrets that the EU Council did not apply the procedure set out in Article 7(1), allowing it to adopt recommendations on Hungary.
MEPs condemn as well the actions of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who last December “decided to block the decision on the essential MFF revision, including the Ukraine aid package, in full disrespect and violation of the EU’s strategic interests [...] and in violation of the principle of sincere cooperation”.
With regard to the partial release of funds (€20 billion are still frozen), Parliament notes that Hungary has “not complied with the reforms requested with regard to judicial independence” contrary to what the President of the Commission said.
The text also refers to “the systemic discriminatory practices against academia, journalists, political parties and civil society” in the allocation of funds.
The measures required for the release of EU funding “must be treated as a single, integral package, and that no payments should be made even if progress is made in one or more areas but deficiencies still persist in another”, says the resolution.
While the text does not mention a vote of censure, it does point out that the European Parliament can resort to a whole range of legal and political measures if the Commission breaches its obligations as guardian of the Treaties and to protect the Union’s financial interests.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/ag1 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)